Chapter 716: Karen's Funeral!

Chapter 716: Karen's Funeral!

Karen let out a long breath, a smile spreading across his face. Because Mr. Eisen had not died, the "Awakening" had been ineffective.

Mr. Eisen asked, "Karen, that... you are still alive, right?"

"Of course, Uncle. I am not a phantom born of pollution, nor am I a nightmare like Mother."

"Good, that is good. Truly good, haha, truly good."

Whatever Karen said, Mr. Eisen believed immediately, without a shred of doubt. He had heard the outcome he desired, and any other reality was one he simply could not accept.

Even if this were a dream, he would plunge headlong into it; no one could wake him.

Furthermore, the nephew standing before him was completely naked.

Whether an illusion or a nightmare, such an absurd discrepancy would not appear. This breach of common sense made it feel exceptionally real.

Karen also realized he wore no clothes. Crawling out from that pool of dense pollution, even his body had only just been "woven" anew. How could he have clothes?

Besides, he had been too preoccupied with his uncle's condition to notice.

Yet there was nothing to be embarrassed about. It was like past missions when Vanni and Peg liked to lounge naked in front of him. In extreme environments, who would care about a minor point of morality that amounted to less than a scratched knee?

Karen stood up and walked over to the corpse of a researcher a short distance away. The body stood upright, swaying slightly. On its flesh, Karen could discern tiny, insect-like creatures crawling about.

Were they the virus strains?

Only now, these crawling things appeared utterly withered. In truth, because Mr. Luther had previously swept up the vast majority of the pollution in the vicinity into his own body, the concentration of pollution within this laboratory had dropped to its absolute nadir, throwing all virus strains into a state akin to hibernation.

This was the sole reason Mr. Eisen had managed to endure and survive here for so long.

"Praise Order."

After muttering the phrase, Karen stripped the divine robe from the corpse and donned it himself. The robe was embedded with a self-cleansing formation, ensuring its purity. As for the small crawling things, the moment Karen put the garment on, they scrambled away in panic.

Once dressed, Karen returned to the spot where he had "crawled" out, gathering his scattered belongings from the floor, before returning to stand before Mr. Eisen.

Though Mr. Eisen was alive, he appeared incredibly frail.

Karen could not employ any spells to examine him at the moment, but learning from his previous mistake, he asked directly:

"Uncle, how does your body feel right now?"

Mr. Eisen’s lips trembled slightly with a touch of embarrassment. Averting his gaze, he replied:

"I... am hungry."

Having been tormented by the hunger addiction for so long, and having just survived a fierce confrontation with it not long ago, hearing this reply left Karen's mind momentarily dazed.

It took him several breaths to realize that his uncle was simply, truly hungry.

So, Mr. Eisen's current weakness was merely because he had not eaten?

"Karen, the food in my pack is gone. I rationed the last pieces for a long time, but they are gone too."

When the volunteer team descended, every member carried a backpack filled primarily with tools and materials. There was food, but not much. The reason was simple: who would linger to camp and admire the scenery here?

Either you succeeded and emerged immediately, or you failed and died inside. Reality was no heroic novel; miracles were called miracles precisely because you never factored them into your daily calculations.

Karen was the anomaly, and to an extent, because the pollution here had dropped to its lowest point, Mr. Eisen's survival to this moment was also an anomaly.

Still, the food was gone... weren't there corpses here?

Karen turned his gaze toward the remains of the dead volunteers on the ground, and the hundreds of swaying researcher corpses.

Setting pollution aside, it wasn't as if they couldn't be eaten. To put it another way, if one was starving to death, what did pollution matter?

At worst, one could show a bit of politeness before eating, just as he had done when "borrowing clothes," shouting "Praise Order" instead of saying grace.

The deceased priests wouldn't mind anyway; everyone was a believer of Order. Of course, one could also choose to sample the flavors of the Principle.

Partner churches shared everything.

Hadn't Neo eaten Philias beneath the ocean just to survive?

Though looking at it now, Mr. Philias was far more polluting than a contaminated corpse.

But then again, Mr. Eisen was Mr. Eisen after all. Though he frequently participated in the operations of the Whip of Order squad under the identity of "Memphis," at his core, he remained a formation master with heavy scientific tendencies. Things that veteran members of the Whip of Order took for granted were entirely outside his comprehension.

Karen did not lecture Mr. Eisen on survival skills. Instead, his gaze swept across the room until he reached a door. Pulling the bolt, he threw it open to reveal a storehouse stacked high with food supplies.

With hundreds of people in the laboratory, how could there not be a pantry? Karen retrieved a few sausages, some bread, and two bottles of red wine from within.

The price of this wine was several times higher than that of the "old veterans" in his secondhand black Pence car refrigerator.

"The treatment of these researchers is truly exceptional."

Seeing Karen walk back cradling food and wine, Mr. Eisen’s eyes widened instantly.

Then, his lips began to tremble, and a flush of shameful red spread across his frost-pale, bloodless face.

He felt he was stupid beyond belief, nearly starving to death right beside a granary.

"That... ah, in here, there was actually so much food. I, I didn't think of it. You are still the capable one, Karen."

"It's only natural. The environment here is unique, after all."

Karen broke the food into small pieces, feeding Mr. Eisen bit by bit, letting him take a sip of wine after every few bites to wash it down.

In the past, Karen would have unhesitatingly cast a healing spell on Mr. Eisen to forcibly stabilize his condition before carrying him out at top speed. But now, he could not use spells temporarily.

Karen worried that the final breath Mr. Eisen had clung to just to wait for him would dissipate the moment he saw him safe, causing him to pass away on the spot.

After feeding Mr. Eisen, Karen ate a little himself. The taste of the wine was excessively sharp.

Because alcohol is harmful to the human body, the first taste often triggers a strong rejection—a warning from the body that the substance is toxic. Frequent drinking simply overcomes this warning.

So, could he experience the sensation of getting dizzy from a cigarette again, just like when he first woke up on Mink Street?

Karen still remembered that Aunt Mary had given him that cigarette. Afterward, he had slipped into Miss Molly’s "nightmare" and fainted, frightening his aunt terribly.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Mr. Eisen, who had regained some color.

"I miss home."

"Then we shall go home immediately."

Mr. Eisen had misunderstood.

Karen pressed a hand against Mr. Eisen’s chest and said, "Uncle, rest a while longer. Your health is more important."

"But it is dangerous here. I think we should..."

"It is fine. It isn't dangerous anymore."

Though he could not use spiritual power right now, those patches of pollution looked to him like a collection belonging to an insect enthusiast. Bugs that appeared terrifying to outsiders were now nothing more than "little cuties."

Moreover, they dared not approach, keeping a wide distance from him. It felt as though they had collectively recognized the exclusive territory of the "boss."

"Alright, I will listen to you."

"Mm."

"By the way, I had a dream, Karen. It was a very, very long dream. I dreamed I saw you hanging below a cliff."

"And then?"

"I happened to have a red hemp rope in my hand, so I threw it to you. When I saw you catch it, I pulled you up with all my might. I pulled for a long time, not daring to let go, terrified that if I did, you would fall. I was so afraid you would let go too."

"Thank you, Uncle."

"For what? This was merely a dream. Your survival has nothing to do with me."

"It does matter."

"You are far too polite."

Karen knew that his ultimate escape from the bonds at the final moment was entirely due to Mr. Eisen.

The golden chains of Order had resonated with the Art bloodline in his body, carrying the power of the Eternal God.

At that critical juncture, the Art blood relative beside him served as an anchor.

Had his uncle not stayed behind to wait for him, had he not been present, the loss of that anchor would have made it nearly impossible for Karen to claw his way out.

In legend, the most terrifying aspect of the Eternal God was that everything within his sight could become eternal.

Of course, this surely involved exaggeration, or perhaps... a different level of expression entirely.

Eternity here could also be understood as imperishability.

The reason the Hunger Addiction Sculpture had ultimately failed to maul and devour him was because his state had undergone a singular transformation at that moment.

He simply did not know if it would work the next time, and furthermore... the Hunger Addiction was highly likely to keep evolving.

After a brief silence, Mr. Eisen spoke up, "Karen, I think I can leave now."

"Alright, Uncle. Let me help you up."

Karen assisted Mr. Eisen to his feet. With great effort, the older man raised his hand, revealing a rune within his palm. As the rune activated, the stone door cracked open just enough for the two of them to pass through.

Once beyond the stone door, they began their ascent along the tunnel.

"Karen, are you severely wounded?" Eisen asked.

"No, something went wrong with my body. My spiritual power has vanished, and this is a new vessel."

"A new vessel?" Eisen nodded. "So that is how it is."

Mr. Eisen now believed his nephew unconditionally; even if Karen claimed to be the God of Order, he felt he would probably believe it.

"So, does that mean you are very weak right now?"

"I fare well enough. I feel quite healthy, for an ordinary person." Karen glanced at the tunnel walls, where all manner of small insects were crawling.

"As long as you are alive. As for power..."

"My power will not take long to recover either."

"Yes, of course. For you, that should pose no real problem."

The exit of the subterranean cave was fast approaching when Karen suddenly halted.

Looking left and right in confusion, Mr. Eisen asked, "What is wrong?"

"Uncle, how long have we been down here?"

"How long?" Mr. Eisen lifted his wrist, but the calendar watch there had stopped ticking long ago; many things ceased to function in this place.